In His Little Shadow
by Skipper311
Summary: For all the mistakes he's made and pain he's caused, life has turned out alright for Sasuke Uchiha. He wouldn't so easily surrender everything he has now. But when his pursuit of a dark organization threatening to recreate the world leads to the discovery of a parallel dimension, Sasuke begins to wonder about the life he might have had.
1. Enter: Sasuke Uchiha!

_Sasuke didn't bother with knocking as he came into the Hokage's office. Naruto greeted him with a serious look. "You've found something?"_

 _"Some sort of underground criminal organization. They're experimenting with high-level Yin-Yang jutsu to recreate the world how they see fit. I've found evidence they're planning an attack on the village within a year."_

 _The blond tilted his head. "Well, I don't think the world's changed much since yesterday. The ANBU can handle a few kooks. What's the big deal?"_

 _"They've already created some high-level space-time jutsu. On the level of_ my _jutsu."_

 _That got him out of his chair. "That's not good. Did they get anywhere?"_

 _A nod._

 _"Shit."_

 _"I'm not sure where they've gone, though. I'm going after them."_

 _A pregnant pause. "Sakura's not going to be happy you're going away on another long-term mission."_

 _"And neither is Sarada." A sigh. It had barely been months since he had been able to finally be a part of his family, and he was being torn away from them again._

 _Naruto came out from behind his desk, and put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Keep in touch, alright?"_

 _"Maybe if I can find a damn outlet for my phone." With a shared chuckle, Sasuke vanished, not even a blur or swirl of leaves marking his departure._

* * *

Most space-time techniques operate through their own unique dimension. While using a different technique to access another's dimension is possible, it places a much greater strain on the user, especially if the dimensions are great distances apart. That was why Sasuke's still-unnamed (he had to fix that) dimensional portal technique was so powerful – it didn't make use of a unique dimension, but could access other dimensions with relative ease. The fact that a technique of that magnitude of power was not only out there, but in the hands of people who had plans for the destruction of his home was unsettling, to say the least.

But now was not the time for pondering theory. It had been a couple of weeks since discovery of the organization, and the hideout was now totally empty of anything that would be useful. He'd taken care to store what he could his first time, but much of it had already been destroyed.

What could not be destroyed so easily was the chakra trail of the mystery technique. Time had made it thin, but he could still trace its destination with some effort. What he hadn't expected was for all the strands to point in the same direction. Clearly, they'd made more progress on the jutsu than he originally thought. At least it made finding his destination easy. Opening his own portal, Sasuke stepped through.

* * *

 _"You're leaving again." It wasn't a question. Emerald eyes gaze into his, and he doesn't have the heart to meet the eyes of his wife. "Damn it, Sasuke, just when we were a family again-"_

 _She moves as if she is about to hit him, one step forward, the opposite arm cocked back as the other grabs the nape of neck. He instinctively braces for the hit as her arm swings forward, but all she does is throw her arms around him. It takes a moment for him to realize what has happened before he reciprocates the hug with his one arm._

 _"It better not take you another ten years to come back, you jerk."_

 _"Hn." They pull apart, hands on each other's shoulders. There's a small smile on her face, even with her eyes watering. The sound of footsteps grabs their attention, and they see Sarada walk in. She fixes her eyes on her father._

 _"So… you're leaving again, Papa?" He sighs and nods, and kneels down to hug his daughter._

 _"You better come back, shannaro. I won't forgive you if you don't, Papa." The corners of his lips turn up, and he pokes her forehead before rising to face his wife. Sakura leans in expectantly. He turns and strides away, and can hear her hang her head as she sighs._

 _"You're still… such a tease…."_

 _Even without the Sharingan, the look of her surprised face as she lifted her head as he poked her forehead would never leave him._

* * *

Sasuke was fairly sure he hadn't made a mistake. The chakra threads had clearly pointed to the same direction, and he'd followed it to the best of his ability. In fact, he could clearly still feel the ends of those threads. That did not explain why he had ended up only a ways down the road from Konoha's gates. He had assumed the technique was meant to point outside his dimension, but perhaps he'd been mistaken. An examination of his surroundings with his Sharingan ruled out genjutsu, too. Still, enemies who could get this close to the village without alerting any outer patrols or scouts were still a potential threat to the village.

' _Small blessing,'_ he supposed, _'that I'm so close to the village. Might as well report to Naruto on this development.'_

He shook his head as he walked through the gates and saw the four faces of the Hokage defaced with paint. Clearly, Boruto hadn't given up his mischievous ways despite making amends with his father. He only hoped he wasn't dragging Sarada into his schemes. He really couldn't approve of the budding romance between the two. Oh, it was just a harmless childhood crush, Sakura had said, but he'd been quick to point out both she and Hinata had ended up marrying their childhood crushes.

Wait a minute. _Four_ faces of the Hokage?

* * *

Sasuke had come to three conclusions in the short time that had since passed.

One, Naruto was a really bad influence on his dietary habits if he had come to Ichiraku's to think things over.

Two, the fact that neither Teuchi nor Ayame (nor anyone else, come to think of it) recognized him meant this likely wasn't his home dimension.

Three, the fact Teuchi and Ayame existed here at all meant this probably was a mirror or replica dimension of his.

He scowled. Naruto and Sakura had told him about when someone had manufactured an entire replica of the village, but slightly different so as to lure them in and trap them there. Had he been caught in a similar scheme too? It certainly was a possibility he had to keep in mind.

"Something wrong? You've barely touched your ramen."

Sasuke looked up to see the concerned faces of the owners. He waved them off. "It's nothing. Just thinking about some things."

Some things indeed. He was going to need a cover story – claiming to be _an_ Uchiha, let alone _Sasuke Uchiha_ was simply not going to work. Publicly displaying his status as the second most powerful shinobi in the world – probably most powerful right now – would attract dangerous attention, so he'd have to be selective in his techniques. He groaned inwardly. He was an Uchiha. The Sharingan was a core part of any serious combat strategy he had. To have to not use it would be… frustrating. Not to mention he still only had a vague idea of what this strange organization was doing here. Was it an elaborate trap? Was there a cell hiding here?

Picking at his ramen, he started to think up possible names. He hadn't need a fake name in a long time. He certainly hadn't needed it while he was busy trying to take vengeance on whatever entity he felt slighted him or his clan. Even in his recent service to Konoha, anywhere someone of his caliber would go, a henge would be useless at best. And his face… He was one of the four great heroes. One of the saviors of the world. There wasn't anyone worth his time that wouldn't know his face.

Hero. He hated it when people called him that. Made it sound like he'd saved the world out of the goodness of his own heart. He didn't want to die; was that really such a noble goal? Well, that wasn't totally fair. He'd wanted world peace, and he had been willing to murder world leaders and throw the world into an unending cycle of hatred to ensure it. But most people didn't know _that_. No, his past transgressions had been mostly swept under the rug thanks to his old team. Only shinobi were really aware of who he really was, and even then, most didn't know the half of who he used to be. Oh, he's done some bad things, but he helped save the world, so it's okay.

How, exactly, was this helping him arrive at a cover name?

"Something you wanna talk about, son?" Again, he dismissed Teuchi.

He'd let his guard down. Sitting here, at Ichiraku's, it had felt just like home. He could have been waiting for the rest of his old team to show up and talk about… well, old times weren't usually fun for him to talk about. But this wasn't _his_ Ichiraku's. He couldn't trust these people. He had to get that through his head fast.

Thankfully, before he'd been pressed to respond, someone else showed up.

"The usual, Teuchi."

Sasuke froze as he saw Iruka and a young Naruto sit down at the ramen bar. He'd known he was in the past. He could guess that he'd see young counterparts of his friends. But actually seeing Naruto here… he turned back to his ramen before he could be accused of staring.

"Why would you do that to the Hokage faces, Naruto? You know who the Hokage are, right?"

So today was that day. He'd heard this story before. Idle thoughts of interfering wandered through his head. He'd contemplated going back in time in passing, perhaps leading little Sasuke down a better path or even preventing the Uchiha Massacre. But he'd never given it serious thought. For all the heartache and mistakes and pain, his life had turned out alright. He was happily married, had a beautiful daughter and a loving family and set of friends. He wasn't about to throw that all away. But with the opportunity laid out to him….

No. This was not his world. He had no investment in these people. They were not his precious people. They might even be constructs, lies built by his enemies to distract him. He had a mission to complete to protect _his_ Konoha, _his_ family.

"'Cause I'm going to be greater than any of them! I'm going to be a ninja legend, the next Hokage. Then everyone will have to stop disrespecting me. Believe it!"

Despite every ounce of him fighting it, Sasuke's lips turned up into a smile.

* * *

"Here's your key. Enjoy your stay." Thankful the recent proposal of the Shinobi Union to change the currency system hadn't gone through yet in his time, Sasuke accepted the key and walked to his room. The room itself was modest. A bed, a nightstand, a wonderful view of one of Konoha's back streets.

Sasuke's fell into the bed, mentally reviewing what evidence he had. There'd been mentions of a planned attack on Konoha in the documents he'd recovered. He'd caught repeated references to yin and yang chakra. A set of letters discussing back and forth whether or not to involve dreams. Dreams… obviously code for some other element, but Sasuke couldn't think of anything.

Rolling over, Sasuke contemplated his plan of attack for tomorrow. In theory, he should be able to go back and forth between this dimension and his with little difficulty, but doing so would tax his eyes, especially if he went back now, with so little to report. There was definitely something to find here, so he would find it, trap or not.

Satisfied, he closed his eyes, and rested.


	2. Shadows of Future Past

Idly, Sasuke realized he couldn't do anything.

With great irritation, Sasuke realized he couldn't do anything.

His current evidence wasn't going to be enough. Without any other leads, his investigation was sunk. Back home, he would have instantly begun questioning people for leads and scouring the village for clues. But here, he was nobody. Investigating so openly would just attract undue attention, both from the village and from his quarry. Now was not the time to alert them that they had been followed. Unless this was all a trap, and they knew he was here anyway, and then it was moot.

Sitting down on a bench on a not-so-back road, Sasuke let himself fall into thought. Continuing to operate in fear, paranoid he was already caught in some elaborate trap, was not going to get him anywhere. What was the actual likelihood that this was a constructed dimension? Not terribly likely, now that he thought about it. The amount of chakra it took to create a dimension from scratch… it took a chakra volume on the magnitude of Kaguya to do such a thing. Besides, if they could already do such a thing, why go through the trouble of making another dimension, rather than recreate theirs?

So this dimension was probably "real," for lack of a better term. He could worry about the implications of that later. Right now, he had to figure out what they were looking for here.

Quiet determination in his eyes, Sasuke slipped back into the now-crowded midday streets of Konoha.

* * *

The most difficult matter of catching suspicious characters was not identifying them. Even the most skilled infiltrators and actors had tells. Posture, tone, or facial expression could all give someone away. Sasuke could pick out a potential troublemaker from a bustling street anywhere in the world. No, the real issue was actually getting anywhere near a suspicious character in the first place. Unable to question anyone, Sasuke was reduced to randomly walking down streets, hoping to catch someone who might be suspicious, all while maintaining the guise of a visitor or tourist.

Admittedly, he was playing his part very well. Pretending to get lost once in a while, being a little too interested in the day-to-day happenings, innocently asking where the best places to eat and drink were. It was… fun, he had to admit to himself. It was nice to not have the whispers behind his back, unpleasant memories he would never truly escape. Here, he was no one, not a hero, not a villain. He hadn't had peace like that around others in a long time.

But the last few days had turned up fruitless. Even with his summons (and thank the heavens he still had his own summons here) scouting out the village from the shadows and sky, he hadn't found anything. He had guessed the trail had lead him so close to Konoha was because they had operations here, but he had yet to see any proof of that.

His thoughts were interrupted by a paint brush flying through the air. The brush flew by him, narrowly missing an unpainted spot on a fence. A particular orange-clad blond was in the trees, clearly the perpetrator of this impromptu attempt on his life. Sakura and little Sasuke were more sensibly posted, painting the fence by standing by the fence and applying paint by firmly held brush. Sasuke held back a chuckle as Naruto's teammates turned on him.

"Careful, Naruto! You almost hit someone."

"Idiot. What were you thinking?"

"I just wanted to see if I could the spot, y'know? Besides, we're almost done anyway." Naruto grumbled as he hopped down from his post and turned to face Sasuke. "Sorry, mister."

"Hn. I hope your aim with kunai isn't as bad." Sasuke nearly found himself with a face full of paint for that, Naruto whipping the brush in front of his face.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Now, now, Naruto. I'm sure he didn't mean it like that." The familiar dry voice of his sensei came from behind him. "Now come on. We still have to report the completion of our mission." His lips curled up as the team left him behind to complete their mission report.

Sasuke's looked up to the sun, high in the sky. It was lunchtime soon. Now, where would they possibly go for lunch after?

As he departed, he never saw the lone ANBU slip back into the shadows.

* * *

The second scowled. "What is _he_ doing here? How did he get here?"

The third crossed his arms. "It would seem your subordinates have been followed."

A growl. "This is why I said we should have acted quickly. Now we have to deal with _him_."

The first stood impassive. "I told you, had we struck so early, we would have had an entire village in our pursuit. We would be unable to complete the technique. Besides, we would have made… unnecessary enemies."

Silence.

The third spoke. "What should have been done is past us now. What matters is what we are to do now."

"I still say we should just get it over with now. The pink-haired one won't be able to do anything. The Copy Ninja might be problematic, but nothing we can't handle."

The first was, perhaps, annoyed. "I hope you are not suggested we orchestrate an attack in the village. We would be dealing with more than just two other shinobi. Not to mention, _him._ "

The second sighed. "Then we wait for them to leave the village, idiot," he said, leaning back. "They'll start taking C-ranks soon enough. And if they don't return, well… these things happen from time to time."

"The last Uchiha and the Nine-Tails jinchuriki not returning? The village would assuredly send out a search party."

"After how long? A week? A month? They wouldn't even begin to suspect us."

The third nodded. "Indeed. I do not see a reason we should delay further. Once Naruto and Sasuke are relatively isolated, we shall capture them."

The first shook his head and raised his hand, palm out. "You forget the third part of this equation," he said as he relaxed his stance. "Even if the disappearance of those two could be explained, the third would be more difficult, especially if they were so close together."

"Pah, we'll just have to hold onto them until an opportunity presents itself," the second said.

"The longer we hold them, the longer we risk something going wrong. And have you already forgotten? We'd have to deal with _him_ as well. No, we are going to wait like _I_ originally said. That's final." If the other two had any complaints, they didn't voice them. With one final shared glance, the first and third vanished.

The second sneered at empty air before leaving.

* * *

Sure enough as he had predicted, Team Seven had shown up at Ichiraku's for lunch, himself already nursing a bowl. Naruto perked up as they sat down.

"Hey, it's you! You like ramen too?"

Sasuke snorted. "Not at first. A friend of mine wouldn't stop making me eat it, though. It's become… an acquired taste."

"Well, your friend has good taste! And so do you, Mister… uh…."

"Call me…Karasu. And you are?"

"Naruto Uzumaki! And these are Sasuke and Sakura-chan!"

"We're more than capable of introducing ourselves, idiot," the two retorted as one. Sakura's eyes then lit up, and threw her arms around little Sasuke. Well, tried to, anyway.

"See, we're so in sync, Sasuke-kun! We're gonna get married and have kids and…"

Naruto, his conversation with "Karasu" forgotten, desperately tried to convince Sakura otherwise. Sasuke smiled. These sorts of moments were some of the only truly happy memories he had of his childhood. Even as grating as Naruto and Sakura could be, they'd been the best sense of normalcy he had since the massacre. That's what he'd been scared of, hadn't it? Scared he'd be burned again, scared he would lose his precious people again, and then he'd well and truly snap. He'd been scared his whole life that his bonds, his friendships, his loves would hold him back from his duty, be it killing Itachi or killing the twisted system that forced Itachi's hand. He'd nearly succeeded, too, at destroying them.

In a sense, he had. The kids of the village, ignorant of the depth of Sasuke's darkness, would ask him for stories of glory of old. (Sasuke himself had been against any revisionist history in his favor, but the Academy textbooks were rather light on certain details.) Surely he had some cool stories like his teammates? There were only so many times Sasuke could retell the tales of his genin days. He couldn't tell them about his days with Orochimaru, in the Akatuski, as a deranged madman. They were just kids….

Apparently he had been staring at three particular kids, because the trio, their quarrel apparently forgotten, was now staring back at him, somewhat concerned looks across their faces. Sasuke shook his head.

"Was I staring? Sorry. You three just… remind me a lot of people I know." _More than you could ever possibly imagine._

"Oh? And who would that be?" Once again, Kakashi's lazy voice sounded from behind him.

"You're late, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke chorused.

"Well, I was coming from the Hokage's office when a black cat crossed my path, so I had to go the long way around. But enough about me. Who does my team remind you of?" Kakashi was eye-smiling at him, but Sasuke knew he was being tested. He was an unknown element that had gotten dangerously close to his genin team, not to mention the last Uchiha and the Nine-Tails jinchuriki. One wrong answer, and he could expect an ANBU team to visit him tonight… and that was assuming Kakashi didn't do the job himself.

"Just some other members of my clan."

"Oh, you're from a clan?"

"Hrm, not in the sense you're probably thinking. We don't have a bloodline or legacy technique. I used to be part of a group of nomadic shinobi."

"I see. Used to?"

"I left at some point to… grow stronger and travel the world." That wasn't a complete lie. "I've seen my share of excitement," he said, shifting his cloak to reveal his lost arm. Team Seven's eyes went wide, although Naruto's considerably more comically then the other members'.

"You must be quite strong, then," Kakashi observed.

Sakura looked visibly confused, and Sasuke could guess the others weren't far off. "But sensei, if he was strong, how did he lose his arm?"

"Well, Sakura, there aren't many ninja who can take someone's arm clean off like that. Anyone who survives a ninja that strong must be strong in their own right."

Little Sasuke didn't look convinced. "But he still lost."

Sasuke took a little offense at that. Sure, he had said he lost, but he really hadn't lost that last fight in the Valley of the End. "Really, it was more of a draw… and I did take his arm off him in return," he said as he got up. "It was nice seeing you again. Perhaps I'll see you around."

With that, Sasuke excused himself and headed for the inn. A shadow flashed once, twice over his face, and he looked up. There was one of hawk summons. Nodding to himself, Sasuke vanished from the crowd into the shadows.

* * *

"I just don't know, Lord Third. The way he was looking at them… I didn't like it. He seems too interested in my team for a random passerby."

A puff of smoke. "He already met your team while they were out on their D-rank. Coincidences do happen, Kakashi,"

A snort. "Not in the ninja world, they don't. And the way he said goodbye, it sounded like he was going to seek them out again."

"Would you like me to do something, Kakashi? Protection detail for your team? A disposal team to be sent?"

Kakashi sighed. "No, nothing yet. I just… he's hiding something. That I'm sure of."

A smile graced the Hokage's lips. "I have been watching him too, Kakashi," he said, gesturing to his crystal ball. "He certainly has acted suspiciously, but I don't think he's a threat just yet."

Placated for the moment, Kakashi bowed and left.

* * *

Five dojutsu-wielding eyes gazed into the night.

"So that's where you are, are you?"


End file.
